Today digital reconstructions of historical environments seem to be everywhere, from travel ads to video-sharing sites, from Google Earth and FaceBook to textbooks and games, not to mention the eye- riveting CGI versions in movies. Such engaging views of the built past are increasing public interest in our field and promoting new modes of scholarly inquiry and innovative research questions. At the same time, this animated eye candy (as so labeled by a traditionalist) raises some specific challenges. What follows are musings on core issues about the scholarly use of immersive digital representations of ancient buildings based on close to twenty years laboring in the virtual trenches.1
In the formative days of archaeology and architectural history as academic disciplines, line drawings held sway as the preferred form for historical reconstructions, standing in sharp contrast to the more emotive, more sensuous colorful paintings of historical settings.2 Not only...
University of California Press